Feldon From EverQuest2.com:
We are extremely pleased to bring you the new Dungeon Maker feature set. For the first time, you and your fellow players can create new content for the game, play through a constantly changing list of player-created dungeons, and get rewards whether you are a dungeon builder, adventurer, or both!
We recently ran groups of press folks through a “tour” of the Freeport revamp and the AoD feature set. We ended each tour with a demo of Dungeon Maker and what it could do, and we were met with a lot of excitement about the potential once players get their hands on this stuff.
There’s a lot to be excited about, and if you aren’t currently involved in the beta testing (at present about 4000 of you *are* involved), then you haven’t seen much about Dungeon Maker yet. So here’s a preview so you know why this feature will be fun, as either a builder or an adventurer.
Link to continue reading is broken, or they changed/removed the page.
nvm its working now, darn you SoE.
It doesn’t work for me either.
Feldon pegged this when he coined Decorate Your Own Dungeon
I was able to read the article. My first impression is that someone has been playing too much Pokemon — “When you first pile into the dungeon, each person can select from any of the Adventurers they have collected.” Beastlord, activate! /eyeroll. But ok. Pokemon made a lot of money.
The description sounds like it could be fun, you can name monsters and make them big or small, and give them some tricks to use. Definitely the most creative dungeons will get the most eyeballs. I seriously doubt the vanilla flavored ones that aren’t done well will get much interest. I am looking forward to some of the quirky ones, we have a lot of creative people that play this game and they could come up with some pretty amusing ideas as far as NPC names and layouts. And possibly some dungeons that could be challenging. At least unlike housing, there is some reward for going to visit. So on the whole, could be something that could be a positive addition to at least the viral/topical factor of the game. Whether the game should be something like Second Life is another story altogether, but clearly Management thinks we will like it.
This caught my eye: “Then edit the names of the monsters (if you so desire) and even give them custom aggro and death dialogs so they say different things when encountered.” Does anyone else see some very interesting things happening here, if it’s not controlled? I am not even that creative and all sorts of things pop into my head …and I am a grown up. My guess is they have a limited dialogue and filter, because I can’t be the only person who thought of this.
I also see this as a cash cow for SOE, with accessories available on the marketplace for cash by February. I think the game has taken a rather sad turn. The model of bare basics, pay for accessories works all over the world and in every industry, but until this year, our game wasn’t affected in a direct way. That is the biggest change, and the one that bothers me the most. I understand it is the way to make the most money, but the days of pay a subscription fee and have access to all the content, all the fluff, all the neat items, are now gone. I admire other game companies for resisting this refitting trend, and am saddened that I no longer have the choice in the game I have chosen. I realize you don’t have to buy all that much now, but the writing is on the wall and it won’t be long before you really do have to pay for the better sword, equipment, or other amenities with cash if you want to experience the best play environment. The DYOD is a perfect vehicle to try this model of play, since it’s a feature that inherently lends itself to buy to upgrade (like housing).
I am looking forward to seeing what other players can do with the DYOD tool, since it might be amusing, but it certainly isn’t the game I started playing seven years ago. Decorating, building, all this fluff that the game has now certainly has changed the tone and the focus of one of the best MMOs out there. Adapt or quit, I guess, but it’s a little bit of a hard transition for me.
Does anyone get a flash back of dungeon Overlord, or that other, browser based dungeon maker game (Name escapes me at the moment, i’ll keep looking for it, its from one of the game groups like aeria)
Should still be interesting. and i wonder if you can grind a character from level 1 to level 90 using the dungeon runs.
of course its going to be fun to a bunch of people who dont play this game much and can have a toon ready to do this with. I dont want to play a game within a game. Stoopid!
I hadn’t really thought if that, Ardur … good point. So if you are a silver or bronze member, I suppose you could go through the dungeons without upgrading? Interesting idea.
Nah its hopelessly flawed. I have said it before and I will keep on saying it.
This tool is “Decorate Someone Else’s Dungeon”, Design implies some degree of control over layout, this gives none.
Another waste of resources that will be gathering dust by this time next year..EQ2 is littered with the “next best thing” and this feature smacks of another one.